How was your week, friends? I alternated between enjoying our alarmingly nice weather, catching up with friends, and refreshing CNN and panicking. Sooooo pretty much what I’ve been doing for all of 2017?

Links for you!

Over in my Money & Happy Facebook group, amazing things are happening: one woman came clean about a 50k debt she’d been hiding from her husband for years, lots of people have finally paid off their credit card debt, and we all shared the ways we make our living spaces happier. Join us!

And if you’re interested in money, I was on the Say Yes podcast this week talking about regrettable purchases + money mindset shifts!

What do you think? Do artists and designers (and bloggers!) have an obligation to be political?In times of moral conflict, silence is just as loud a response as speaking up. Inaction suggests that a maker has enough privilege to ignore injustices occurring right under their nose. For example, many of those artists who began speaking out on social media were inundated with comments expressing disappointment that an artist-maker would dare to express an opinion about anything outside their work (the audacity!). As unfair as these reactions are, it’s also fair to point out that based on previous content, perhaps the audience didn’t have any way of knowing that particular artist’s views.

Related:Calling the system entirely broken and completely refusing to participate in it — even to reform it or change its flaws from the inside — absolves you of taking action.

Painting the ‘other side’ as a bunch of assholes incites name-calling, but requires no further action.

Ranting about a single cause to anyone who will listen, regardless of whether you’re off-topic or not, looks like action but is really just a lightning-fast energy burn that tries the patience of everyone around you.

This article about the making and un-making of Iggy Azlea’s career is super interesting“She came out at a very interesting time,” Polow notes. “We’re living in a time where wack is actually average. So even if she’s wack, at worst she’ll be average.” Besides, he adds, “How many artists do we come to love who aren’t really that good?”

Disclaimer

Actions taken from the hyperlinks on this blog may yield commissions for Yes and Yes. All content copyrighted by Sarah von Bargen. All photos are embedded with links to the original source unless otherwise noted.